By Jason Collum, AFAJ staff writer

January 2003 – An almost non-stop stream of complaints to his office about broadcast television and radio programs has led an FCC commissioner to call for that agency to change its definition of indecency.

Michael Copps, who was appointed to the Federal Communications Commission in 2001, said the lack of action on complaints and enforcement on the agency's part has to change. This latest call for change follows a previous challenge from Copps to national broadcasters to develop a new code of conduct.

"I haven't seen any qualitative enhancement or improvement in the programs we're seeing or listening to, or that our children are being asked to watch or listen to," Copps told AFA Journal. "I had expressed a hope that the industries would get together and exert some self-discipline upon themselves like they did in previous years." (See AFA Journal, 11-12/02.)

Copps' call for a new definition of decency came the day after Victoria's Secret aired a lingerie show on CBS. That program, originally scheduled to air during what is traditionally known as the family hour in prime-time (7 p.m. CT), was moved back one hour after CBS executives got cold feet about airing the program so early, according to TV Guide. The program was little more than a group of scantily clad women showing off skin and lingerie.

Virtually the same program aired a year ago, giving credence to Copps' argument that national broadcasting executives have done nothing to clean up the airwaves. Also, despite numerous complaints from the public, it furthers his point that the FCC itself has done very little to help.

"Of the nearly 500 indecency complaints received by the Enforcement Bureau in the last year, only a tiny number have resulted in any action," Copps said in a statement to the media in November, 2002. "Too many indecency complaints from consumers and too many truly indecent broadcasts are falling through the cracks."

Copps told AFA Journal the lack of action on the FCC's part signaled it might be time to completely rethink decency standards.

"I don't believe we are capturing the indecency we need to with the current definition we have," Copps said. "If that one's not going to work, then let's get one that will work. And, while we're at it, let's give some serious consideration to making sure that violence is part of that definition."

How did we get to this point? The previous conduct code was scrapped in 1983 because of advertising restraints. Copps said one concern he has, and an angle he would like to see investigated further, is the correlation between increasing media consolidation and increasing indecency on the airwaves. "My question is, is it just coincidental that these two things are occurring at the same time? Or, is there some kind of relationship?" Copps said. He added that when local programming's content and direction are taken away from the community where the local station owner is, and put in New York where the Madison Avenue advertiser is, the national broadcasting office is much less likely to care about the standards of individual communities.

Though Copps said he didn't hear from any major broadcasters, he often hears from smaller, local broadcasters. The problem, he said, is that a few individual voices will not do much to influence the national broadcasters. He said concerned local broadcasters must pressure their state associations to lean on national broadcasters for change.

Copps' voice on decency standards is a lone one in the ranks of the FCC, but he is undaunted. He feels if Americans will step up and make their opinions known en masse, then things will change. Americans should "speak out, make their opinions known" to leaders at the local and national levels, Copps said. "There is a multitude of voices in this country that would like to see something done on this. But I don't think this town [Washington, D.C.] is convinced of that yet. I think they need to see it. Once that wave of discontent and determination to do something is a little better appreciated, I think these institutions of government will become more responsive to them."  

Make your voice heard
If you would like the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its definition of indecency, let each commissioner know. For more information, visit the FCC's Web site at www.fcc.gov.